CVE-2026-22695 | LIBPNG has a heap buffer over-read in png_image_read_direct_scaled (regression from CVE-2025-65018 fix)

Exp

LIBPNG is a reference library for use in applications that read, create, and manipulate PNG (Portable Network Graphics) raster image files. From 1.6.51 to 1.6.53, there is a heap buffer over-read in the libpng simplified API function png_image_finish_read when processing interlaced 16-bit PNGs with 8-bit output format and non-minimal row stride. This is a regression introduced by the fix for CVE-2025-65018. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.54.

Published: 2026-01-12 Last update: 2026-01-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-22695 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.17%). 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-22695

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-22695

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.01% 0.17% +0.16%
2 2026-01-13 — 0.01% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-22695

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.1 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 4.2 [email protected]
7.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-22695

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-22695

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2026-22695: 1 source package rows (libpng); 28 state rows across 6 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, 3.23-main, edge-main); fixed 5, open 23. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2026-22695
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-22695 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libpng1.6), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-22695
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-22695
suse medium CVE-2026-22695 severity moderate: SUSE including 325 source package names (1.1.0-1.11:libpng16-16-1.6.40-150600.3.6.1, 2.0.4-5.8.242:libpng16-16-1.6.34-150000.3.19.1, …), 801 product×package rows across 252 product lines (Container private-registry/harbor-portal, Container suse/manager/5.0/x86_64/server, … (252 product lines)): Fixed 461, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 102, First Fixed 7. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-22695/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-22695 medium priority: Ubuntu including 5 source packages (chromium-browser, firefox, libpng, libpng1.6, thunderbird), 30 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 13, released 9, DNE 7, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-22695

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-22695

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libpng libpng >= 1.6.51, < 1.6.54 cpe:2.3:a:libpng:libpng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-22695

cvelogic Threat Intelligence